1939 Film Reviews

Often considered the best year in film history, girl by locker and I decided to watch two films for 1939.  I had already seen Mr Smith Goes to Washington (two thumbs up), and girl by locker had already seen Gone with the Wind.  So here are our reviews.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

girl by locker says: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is one of the movies you’ve heard about all your life. You know who is in it and you even know the general plot outline. Despite all this, you are still completely sucked into the story, along for the ride and cheering for Jefferson Smith (James Stewart, who is amazing) to root out political corruption and get his boys camp built. It is a classic story of good versus evil and though I was initially worried that the characters would either be too evil or too good, it was an unfounded fear.

I loved certain aspects of the camera work as well. There is a scene in which Stewart talks with Senator Paine’s daughter, whom he finds very attractive, and though we hear the conversation all we actually see is Stewart fumbling with his hat, nervously dropping it.

This movie gets 5 out of 5 stars on Netflix, two thumbs up and even a back flip. I liked it that much. My only negative comment is that I thought it wrapped up a little too quickly and neatly…but it is a minor observation on what is obviously a masterpiece.

Gone with the Wind

Juror #3 says: So I had obviously heard a lot about Gone with the Wind and had even quoted the movie - "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" - about a million times.  But I was extremely unaware of the depth of the film.  Forget the fact that while we are choosing movies year-by-year in witness of the advancements in filmmaking, and Gone with the Wind could, technically, be made today without question, the real impact made upon me was the depth of the theme.  Here we played out the civil war in all its intricate detail side-by-side with a tale of human nature.  The tale's main characters were chasing love, sometimes mixed with entitlement, during a time where the nation was at war, it could be said, over those very two ideas.  The acting was so good that at times I wanted to forward through Scarlett O'Hara's scenes because I despised her.  And I love that in the end I'm not sure whether to believe in her attempt at reconciliation.  There haven't been many movies in my life that I felt really examined human nature in a unbiased way.  And then you weave in the Civil War with similar scenes and I've just witnessed an enduring masterpiece for all the right reasons.  I've, naturally, rated it a 5/5 on Netflix.